I know I could lower tire pressure and everything, but that would get old very fast with the frequency which we will be pulling in and out of the garage. If I could cut out this middle piece between the header and the trim everything would be fine, is this something that can or should be done?

Hate to hear what my wife says when I have to build a pole barn because the boat wont fit

its not for the light, the light actually clears just fine, its for the bar above the light. So would i was thinking if I could completely remove the middle piece of wood, which also happens to be 1/2"

I will get a pic of the outside tomorrow, and there is a garage door on it. Manual type, I have it pushed all the way back for the photo above.

ohhhh so you're tower is folded down and we are looking up at the top of the door from under the tower. i would think you could take that out, trim and that middle piece. as long as you aren't messing with the structural part like that braces you should be find, the rest is for looks. i hope your door rolls up with out it... or is this on the outter portion of the door?

If you have not tried it either raise the tongue all the way up or all the way down on the fulton. I eventually bought a 6 inch drop hitch so I could pull the boat right in. It rides a little tongue low but who cares. Gotta think one of those will fix your issue.

It's hard to tell what the "middle piece" really is. My best guess is that it is sheething. If that's the case, and you're gonna take it out, I would recommend putting a layer of flashing in there to protect from water getting there and rotting out wood.

The header trim or filler is a non-issue to remove, but the finished look on the outside may require some thought and cost.

From where the tower sits folded in relation to the front axle, the lowering method may require more than 6" to get you the drop you need, but lower would work. Having a lower receiver for stowing it in the garage is the simplest idea.

Keeping the hitch really low for towing would be hard on the front torsion axle and wheels.

ohhhh so you're tower is folded down and we are looking up at the top of the door from under the tower. i would think you could take that out, trim and that middle piece. as long as you aren't messing with the structural part like that braces you should be find, the rest is for looks. i hope your door rolls up with out it... or is this on the outter portion of the door?

I guess what I'm trying to picture is where does the garage door meet when its down? If you aren't going to have a gap cut it and paint it. Its just trim from what it appears. The header is where your structural support is from. I mean we are talking an inch here.

If you could take a pic that would be great. Another suggestion and some may flame this. if the garage door would leave a gap would be......

Take the trim off. Make 2 pieces that are half the width and hinge it. Then you can use gate locks on the ends to secure the lower trim. It would almost function as a boat doggy door. You come home, unlock the bottom section, fold it up, pull the boat in, and then drop it back down. you'd be looking at sub 100 bucks for that set up and if you used decorative hinges it would look perfectly fine. Just paint the trim to match and you are done. Mine hits the same way but I only pull in for winter. My solution was to back the boat in to the tower, unhook it, lower the jack, and push it in the last 5'. That method sucks btw

Hold up! That's a Samson tower, right? Did you lower it all the way?? It will lower below the windshield and easily fit in a 7' garage. With the racks rotated back and the tower down, stand between the folded billet uprights, facing the transom. Then just push down evenly on both of the uprights. They'll go over-center and the tower will drop another foot.

Trust me, it will go lower. You have to push evenly on the hinged end of both of the folded billet uprights. Stand between them and face the rear of the boat. Push straight down with about 20 pounds of force. Did it a million times on my 2009 Epic 23v and slid it in my 7' garage with several inches to spare.

The previous owner mentioned that, but he nor I was able to make it happen. I was even standing on the wings trying to get them down. After reading your post I went out and lubed the joints. It took about 10 minutes, but they now drop as advertised.

My wife was wondering what I was doing playin with the tower today. I didn't need it to get lower, but I wanted to see what I could get, since I might have a low shed it might fit in for the winter. It fits in my garage, but it takes up a lot of space. Of course, I don't have to hard winterize it if I keep it in my heated garage.

hey iceburg this might be kind of personal question but what type of lube did you use?

Also the more I keep thinking about it the more I think a pole barn/ garage is in order, so all this just may be a short term solution. Between the boat, mower, 3 dirt bikes, atv, kids bikes and wagons, work supplies, tools, etc... there is no room for the 4Runner and the es350.

Frank - funny that you tried it - I did it on the new one by accident - got off the lake and just slammed tower down and voila ... Didn't notice it until I needed it back up and that was the worse part ... Wasn't sure if I'm able to push it up by myself ;-)